The party begins their rescue mission in the Spirit World to find Liu’s party.
Characters Interacted With
Gui Ying: Explained the mechanics of the Spirit World and sent the party off on their mission.
Liu: Explained the misfortune that had befallen him and his party and accompanied the party into the Spirit World. Had his dagger stolen by the Spirit of the mysterious child.
Other Characters Mentioned: Minor Spirits, Unnamed Elf in Ethereal Plane, River Ghost
Session Overview
The session began with Liu explaining what happened to his party in the Spirit World: They wanted to kill a Spirit that’s been causing for problems and redeem its bounty, and eventually came across a massive chasm blanketed in a veil of shimmering colors, making it difficult to see what was below. Liu’s party sent him to scout up ahead, but while he was doing so, he heard the distressed cries of his party. He flew back to help, but only managed to see their outstretched arms as they disappeared below the surface. When Liu went after them, he was slashed by a mysterious force, and knocked back. He then fled back to the Material Plane through the waypoint his party originally used to enter. When pressed on the Spirit they were hunting’s appearance, Liu said the only information given was that the Spirit had teal priest robes and long black hair.
The party agreed to help Liu and travel back into the Ethereal Plane with him on a rescue mission. Gui Ying lead the party back to the courtyard, where she explained the basics of the Spirit World, and how conventions and norms there are different from how things are on the Material Plane. She also briefly explained the three main types of Spirits: Yao, Ghosts, and Ghouls.
After supplying the party, Gui Ying performed the spell to send them all into the Ethereal Plane, asking them to tell Michael to come home as soon as possible if they saw him. The party arrived in an abandoned monastery, the only sign of activities in years being food offerings that only looked a few days old. Amanti used his Stonebound Scribe to notate their location, before the party all went outside. There, they witnessed the landscape of the Spirit World in all its glory: Rocky mountains jutting out of a thick blanket of fog that stretched as far as the eye could see.
The party tried using their willpower to move as Gui Ying instructed, being able to float through the air with some initial difficulty. Shortly after the party descended the clifftop monastery, a Spirit ran by and stole one of Liu’s daggers. Fanna recognized this Spirit as the middle school aged child that appeared to them when Michael was instructing the party how to bury a body, but before the party could do anything else, the child ran off into the forest.
With nothing else to do, and Liu adamant on getting his dagger back from the child, the party trekked further into the forest. They found an abandoned campsite with long rotten food, but were quickly kicked out after Fanna accidentally disturbed a Spirit possessing one of the books on the ground. As the fog limited vision to around 60 ft., the party could not get a good vantage point by floating above the trees. The party tried luring the Spirit of the child out with an offering of one of Brooks’ feathers, but yielded nothing fruitful. The only thing of note was them witnessing a lesser Spirit that had been attracted by the offering being killed by an Elf in hiding, before he ran off further into the forest.
The party decided to try and travel further into the forest in search of the child. They came across a strange goat-like animal entangled in a massive nest of spiderwebs, and after some debate on whether to leave it or rescue it, freed it. After some more travel, they came across a river, where they heard a muffled yell followed by a single crack of bone. Things became more unsettling as Amanti’s Wildfire Spirit sensed something was off about the river. Amanti cast Water Walking on everyone to help them cross the river as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, as the party was crossing, Fanna’s ankle was grabbed from something below the surface of the water. As Fanna turned to confront it, the fresh corpse of the Elf they saw earlier rose out of the water, the muscles on its neck askew as its head was ripped clean off before being shoddily reattached. The possessed corpse then engaged the party in combat.
After the party dealt enough damage to it, it fell lifelessly into the river again. Its true form, an angry Ghost that inhabited the river, emerged to attack the party. Its horrifying visage aged Fanna by 10 years, but it was quickly dispatched of.
The session ended with Amanti using rope like a lasso and pulling the body out of the river to loot its contents, and promptly pulling too hard and sending the body flying into him, knocking him over.
Key Learnings
- Liu’s party was attacked by something in the Spirit World, and they disappeared into a massive chasm covered by a thick, shimmering layer of color. They were on the hunt for a Spirit with a bounty on its head, wearing teal priest robes and long black hair.
- The party learned from Gui Ying how the Ethereal Plane functions differently from the Material Plane: Movement is done through willpower, creatures on the Material Plane give off an aura into the Ethereal Plane, and Yao Spirits, Ghost Spirits, and Ghoul Spirits all behave in different ways distinct from the Material Plane
Items Of Importance
- Incense
- 2x Turn Undead Talismans
- 2x Fortune Talismans
- 2x Ghost Repelling Talismans
- Lantern of Revealing (uncommon)
- Robe of Eyes (rare)
- Eyes of Minute Seeing (uncommon)
- Rope of Mending (common)
- 44 gold